Chapter Five #2
Graves came to her side, taking her hand. For the briefest moment, she realized she still had control of her absorption, and she let it drop. Her mind was wide open for him for the first time in three months.
He breathed in sharply as if he’d been singed by the connection that still lay strong and heated between her and Lorcan.
He dropped her hand, and his eyes went distant. “Oh.”
She winced. Things had been left unsaid between them since the binding. He knew what a binding could do. Of course he did. It was why he had tried to stop Emilie. But knowing and seeing in her mind were two different things.
“Try again,” she whispered, grasping his hand again as she forced the kaleidoscope of emotions roiling through her and thought only of him.
This time Graves bloomed into her mind, a collection of images that was almost too much for her to look at.
Like a quick montage of all the times he’d seen her and found her beautiful.
She closed her eyes and breathed in the images.
She almost forgot how much easier it was to explain to him with a touch of her mind than it was to speak those emotions out loud.
“Enough of that,” Lorcan said, and the absorption snapped back on.
She reached for it, only feeling a solid wall. Her hand went to her chest at the cut-off that rocked through her. She glared at him as she realized he was going to go straight back to this bullshit because she wasn’t going to roll over and accept what he’d done to her.
“You should leave before I kill you,” she growled low.
“You can’t kill me, love,” Lorcan said.
“Trust me. I’ll find a way.”
He tipped his head at her. “Good luck with that.” He knocked her chin, and she considered swinging on him as he lifted his chin at Graves. “Until next time.”
Then he was through the door, and all the air left with him.
She exhaled sharply. “It’s all locked down again. Why did he give it back just to take it away?”
“For that reason exactly,” Graves said, turning from her to rummage through Archie’s belongings.
“About what you saw in my mind,” Kierse began.
Graves waved her off. “I know what a bond looks like.”
“Yeah, but…”
“More pressing concerns right now, Wren.” He found a sturdy quilt and snapped it open. He clearly didn’t want to talk about the bond any more than she wanted to experience it. “Help me roll his weight onto this.”
She closed her mouth and rolled the dead body onto it. Still she couldn’t help saying, “We need that stone.”
He nodded. “Yep.”
“You’re sure the stone will break the binding?” Kierse asked, feeling defeated.
He wrapped the quilt around Archie’s body.
“I’m not a hundred percent sure, but I’ve seen the Stone of Fal in action.
It’s known for proclaiming the over king and ensuring the long reign of the monarch, but I’ve seen it create a geas before.
I’ve seen it break a geas before as well.
Never a bond like yours, but that wasn’t done then. ”
“Did you think about it with Emilie?”
He tensed. “I was too arrogant to consider other options before. I just used my powers,” he said, flexing his hands. “To her detriment.”
Kierse nodded in understanding. “Why does Lorcan think you can’t use the stone?”
Graves bent down and hefted the dead body onto his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. “Because I’m no longer a Druid.”
“How would he know that?”
Graves sighed. “I sold my Druidic magic for the sword, thinking it was a worthy price, but then I couldn’t access its magic once it was gone. He has the sword.”
“You think it told him, then.”
“Good an answer as any.”
“Do you think it’s because you lost your Druidic magic?”
Graves shook his head. “I think it’s because I’m not worthy.”
Kierse frowned. She hated that assessment. That Graves always saw himself as the villain. Sure, he was far from innocent in all of this, but to say that the objects didn’t work for him because he was unworthy… What had he done in his life that was so much worse than her or Lorcan?
George cut through their conversation. “A black van just pulled up in front of the house, boss.”
“Good. Come help us load up.”
“Understood.”
Walter stuck his head in a moment later. “There’s some guy out here asking for you. What do I do?”
“Take the feet,” Graves said, tossing the back half of Archie at Walter.
Walter caught the feet and nearly fell over. “Why is he so heavy?”
“Ever heard of dead weight?” Graves asked, deadpan.
Kierse tried not to laugh.
They carried the dead body of Archie Blair out onto the street named for his family into the pitch black of night to a waiting black van on the sidewalk.
A burly Scottish man in black wool sweater and pants waited for them.
He had dark, russet hair with a full beard, and when he looked up at Kierse as she came down the front steps, he froze into a statue.
“Sh-Shannon?” he gasped.
Kierse stalled at the sound of her mother’s name on his tongue.
Graves and Walter threw the body into the back of the van, and Graves patted his hand down on his slacks. “Meant to give you more fair warning for this,” Graves began. “Bram, allow me to introduce you to Kierse McKenna.”
“Bram,” she whispered.
The name rang a bell. It was the one that her mother told her father was waiting for them when they escaped the Fae council.
“You helped save my life.”
And then this big, burly Scotsman threw his arms around her shoulders and burst into tears.